Read on Twitter
If you don't already know that @david_j_roth is the premier chronicler of our current crop of grifters, here's another gem, but it reminds me of a related thing I wanted to talk about. Read this first: https://defector.com/san-francisco-giants-owner-cant-stop-donating-money-to-americas-worst-politicians/
He starts out this fine piece wit a bit about Randy "Duke" Cunningham, truly one of the finest all-time right-wing frauds in American government. It's not that people like this were ever *rare*, it's that they used to be fewer and far between, and largely kept their mouths shut.
It was kind of like having broadcast TV instead of cable: the programming might have been just as shitty, but at least you didn't have to scroll through 900 screens of identical garbage just to find something worth watching.
Anyway, I thought I'd do a little thread of some of my favorite gone-and-forgotten GOP legislators of yesteryear. All these people were awful trash but at least they stood out whereas now the worst guy in your paper's letters to the editors section is now your congressman
1. STROM THURMOND. Old-school Southern racist. Was 1,500 years old. May have fought in the actual Civil War. Had an illegitimate mixed-race child while he ran for president as a segregationist. Repeatedly referred to microphones as "the machine".
2. BOB DORNAN. Was called "B-1 Bob" for his love of cash-rich defense industry sweetheart deals. Rabid, violent lunatic. Racist, anti-Semite, homophobe, Islamophobe, and all-around shithead, also responsible for this amazing exchange.
3. DAN QUAYLE. People forget that this terminally dumb, perpetually unserious frat dork was once vice-president of the United States! Did not invent government payoffs to big corporations, but perfected them. Sort of a human bridge between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump.
4. JESSE HELMS. Prudish, censorious snoop who became the religious right's favorite man on the Hill. Astonishing blend of cornball Jesus-jumper and murderous spook. Literally embodied the bought-out hypocrite that people thought about when they thought about the Christian right.
5. EV MECHAM. Former governor of Arizona and my one-time neighbor. Part of a long line of dismal AZ govs. Demanded a list of all homosexuals in government. Responsible for AZ being one of two states that did not observe Martin Luther King day. Mormon used car dealer/disgrace.
